Here be Dragons
by Kandros Fir
Summary: Disillusioned with the Fire Nation after Iroh's death at the Siege of Ba Sing Se, Lu Ten leaves, taking Zuko and Azula with him.


When I was younger my father had brought me to the royal palace to visit my grandfather and uncle. Back then I had been duly impressed. The magnificent arches, the gleaming marble pillars, the rich tapestries, the young ladies wearing a thousand shades of red so that whenever they walked they seemed to light ablaze, it all seemed to reinforce the notion that the Fire Nation was the center of the world to my young impressionable mind.

I now return as a young man who has lost his father and the royal palace no longer serves as a symbol of a great and glorious nation whose future shines brighter than a thousand suns. I see it for what it is, a fly trap a vacuous waste of wealth built from the plunder of old men and women, meant to glorify half men, the bitter broken elite whose morality and principles have long ago decayed under the cut throat world of Fire Nation politics, where every smile contains a dagger and every handshake is a clandestine message for destruction.

(What does that make you then, one who has killed for these half men's pleasure? It is a question you have never been able to answer.)

I stand in front of the mirror of my room, preparing myself for Azulon's summons. I try to hold back tears as I replay my father's death in my head. I was still a prince of the Fire Nation and we were not allowed to cry. Finally a messenger calls me into the throne room.

I walk down the corridor, rife with scenes of the Fire Nation's victory over the "barbarians" of the other nations.

(You wonder if it should sicken you, that the air bender genocide is included in those tapestries?)

I enter the throne room to find it relatively empty, except for Azulon, Ozai, Ursa and their two kids, Zuko and Azula.

(So the whole family has come together, eh? Too bad they couldn't do it when my father was alive)

Azulon sits on his throne tall, unyielding, as if he were a granite statue, carved into the seat itself. Of all my family, he is the one I have the most complex relationship with. He is my grandfather and we have made so many memories together but he represents what is wrong with the Fire Nation. For in the dog pile that is the Fire Nation, the strong humiliate and step on the weak, only to be humiliated by and stepped on by those stronger than them, and the one responsible for that is the Fire Lord. He needs to keep the path to advancement dependent on the Fire Lord and the royal family and to do that, one needs to destroy those who have accumulated too much power.

(Still, you remember the joy of playing PaiSho with him and the rock candy treats he would give you after he let you win.)

Next to him, Ozai is grinning, barely able to suppress his glee at his brother's death. My feelings for him are simple. I hate him. I hate this smug man with every breath of my body. He represents all that is wrong with the Fire Nation- pure ambition unchecked by compassion or honor. I wish him the worst fate imaginable. I know it is uncharitable of me to feel this way of my own flesh and blood but I will not apologize.

Next to him sits Ursa, and she is the one I feel the sorriest for. The daughter of a minor nobleman, she was dragged into this brutal realm by Ozai, in perhaps the only act of love he has ever committed. She sits helplessly on her throne not knowing how to deal with any of it; the bickering military, the corrupt nobility, nor the monster that is her husband. And so she turns to her children trying to be their mother to cover for the fact that she can be nothing else.

(Not that she has ever tried)

And finally there are the children themselves. Zuko the crybaby and Azula the brat, as you have long ago labeled them, since your first play date as children. Azula juts her chin at you, angry that she isn't the center of attention and Zuko hides behind his mother's skirts, peering cautiously at you from a distance, wondering why the grownups are acting so strange.

Azulon speaks to you and when he does, his voice is like a dying flame, flickering, barely there and in danger of going out.

(How long Ozai will allow him to survive, now that Iroh is dead?How long will you survive?)

"My grandson," he says, "I have called you home to discuss your future after your father's untimely…"

After a few heartbeats of hesitation, he continues having found the right word, "demise."

"You are a bright young man, and if you shall continue in career in the military, you shall rise far. I have no doubt you will make general. But if the issue of Iroh's death is still too soon…"

I understand that Azulon is offering to jumpstart my career but I know that I cannot accept. I cannot fight for a cause I no longer believe in.

(Had you been stronger, you would have fought against it.)

"I shall serve the Fire Nation in whatever way you see fit. But I would like a ship and crew. I would like to set sail to lands undiscovered and expand the Fire Nation's understanding of the world."

I know my request will not be denied. At this point I could ask for anything except the world and Azulon would give it to me, because in the end Iroh is his son and he loves him the most. And if he cannot show that to Iroh, he will at least try to show me.

Azulon nods his head sagely, as if he was expecting this and says, "Of course you shall have what you ask for. I simply wish I could give the son of one of the greatest Fire Nation citizens more."

(You wonder how long Azulon has practiced that gesture in front of a mirror. Probably too many times to count.)

Ozai rankles at this and I see both Zuko and Azula cringe. Iwonder if Ozai will take his anger at Azulon's blatant favoritism out of their hides. I look at Ursa's helpless expression and I understand that I cannot leave them there. So I decide to take them with me, because after all that is what my father would have wanted.

"Then, could Zuko and Azula go with me. It is good for them to learn more about the world they will one day rule."

Ozai leaps off of his chair, eyes bulging and declared, "Never!"

I know that it isn't so much losing the children that bother him as it is losing them to me. But as I have said already, at this point Azulon was ready to give me everything but the world.

(He wants that for himself doesn't he?)

"Yes, they can travel with you for five years. So much time spent with such a young man as yourself can only help their development."

"How can you allow him to take my children away? He can only corrupt them with his failure in Ba Sing Se," Ozai objects.

"That is one failure after many achievements. Who stormed the city of Nanjing, or what about fort Lao Tzu, or perhaps…" Lu Ten retorted before Azulon interrupted him.

"Peace, my grandson. No one doubts your achievements. Ozai is simply being sentimental. You shall have your ship and everything you need within the week."

"Thank you grandfather," I say before bowing my head and leaving. I left the room as Azulon, Ozai and Ursa tried to explain to the kids that their cousin was forcefully tearing them from their world and exposing them to the dangers of life outside the Fire Nation, hell outside of civilization. Agni, what was I doing? I wondered. I know nothing about babysitting or getting along with kids. But I remembered Iroh and how he raised me and I was determined to do right by these kids.

Finally the day has arrived. My things are packed and my cousins are onboard. But there is one last thing to do first. I stand in front of the shrine I made for my father, with its plain marble plaque inscribed with his name. I stare there wondering, what should I inscribe below that though? What sums up my father perfectly? Could I simply put the words rest in peace below it? Would an empty platitude work best- he has entered the final port in the journey of life? Would something poetic be best-here lies the noblest ruins of a man?

This is the point where words become tricky because there is no perfect way no neat and tidy way to sum him up. Then I remember that paishou tile my father always carried with him that he gave to me. It isn't perfect but it is a better fit than anything else. So I carve the tile upon the plaque and write below it, may we play agin in our everlasting reunion. And with that it is time to leave the Fire Nation.

I leave the port as the fires in the capitol burn brightly for the departure of the last dragon from the world. As the glittering decadent putrid mirage that is the heart of the Fire Nation war machine vanishes into the horizon, I think good riddance. Now I am of to explore the parts of the map that he cartographers still mark, Here there be Dragons.


End file.
